“Then, we’ll proceed in order in 30 minutes.”
“Please change into your costumes in the dressing room over there.”
The audition was unfolding a little differently than expected.
Rather than acting with an actual actor, the children would perform with their guardians—a somewhat unusual approach, but surprisingly, the mothers here didn’t seem to mind.
“Well… I guess it’s more comfortable doing it with me than a real actor, right? We practiced at home anyway.”
“That’s good. Just do it like we practiced before we came.”
“Jisoo, remember what you did with Mommy at home? Just do it the same way.”
Most of the children had rehearsed with their mothers for this audition.
Even if some were attending acting academies, from the mothers’ perspective, performing in front of a stranger would be far more nerve-wracking for the kids than doing it with their moms.
Meanwhile, after hearing all this, our Sunhwa looked up at my face, her signature golden eyes sparkling, and asked,“Mom, does that mean I’m acting with you here?”
“Yes. Just like we did at home… no—let’s do even better. I’ll do my best too.”
“Okay! Got it. Sunhwa’s first partner is Mom… hehe…”
She mumbled something under her breath at the end, then tightly held my hand.
Her slightly trembling hand and flushed cheeks hinted at some nervousness, so I gently patted her head to help her relax a little and looked around again.
The moms were hastily going over scripts or rehearsing lines.
At a glance, things seemed to be moving smoothly despite the earlier accident.
But as I observed, I silently thought to myself:
“They must be pretty desperate to pull something like this.”
And so, the audition began.
A child dressed in a hanbok, playing the role of the ‘Princess’ prepared by the team, and her mother, hurriedly changed into a hanbok to play the lead role of the ‘Queen.’
Watching her daughter nervously glance around, the mother, holding a script in hand, spoke in a rather tense voice:
“Um… um… Wh-what is it, Princess?”
“U-um… Mom—no, I mean, Your Majesty. I have something I’m curious about… I mean, there is something this girl wishes to ask.”
“Ahem. And… what is it?”
The mom stumbled from the very beginning, and maybe because of that, the child faltered as well.
Though they seemed to have memorized the lines somehow, as soon as the mom started to waver, the daughter clearly became visibly unsettled too.
“…Haa. I’m sorry. We’ll stop here.”
In the end, the two of them couldn’t endure the awkwardness and cringe, and gave up midway.
As they stepped back with flushed faces, the other mothers didn’t say anything out loud—but quietly scoffed to themselves.
Tsk tsk… should’ve practiced better at home.
Seriously?
She came here claiming to be an aspiring “actress mom,” and that’s all she’s got?
With the confidence that they wouldn’t mess up like that, the other moms stepped forward one by one.
But.
Contrary to what they had believed, things weren’t going so smoothly for them either.
“Wh-what are you talking about?!”
“Uh… so, like…”
“Wh-what are you doing! Say your line already!”
The acting was more difficult than expected, and the awkward reactions of their children made it worse.
Not only could they not hold the right emotions, some hadn’t even memorized their lines.
Watching that, I let out a quiet sigh.
With the body of someone who had lived and breathed acting in a previous life, I understood that the production team had no choice but to make this poor decision.
A child actor’s performance is deeply influenced by the adult they’re acting with.
Children, who haven’t yet developed their own stage presence, are easily swayed by the atmosphere around them.
If their partner is fully immersed, they’re drawn in more easily.
But if the partner is awkward, they naturally become awkward too.
In short, unless the mother could lead the performance well, the child was bound to falter.
From that perspective, having a professional actor originally planned to act with the kids would have been far more helpful for their immersion—but most mothers here had no idea about that.
On top of that, in this script, the child’s role wasn’t meant to shine on its own.
It existed solely to elevate the other character.
In industry terms, the role of the young ‘Princess’ was designed to be “deliciously eaten up” by the Queen.
Sure, the one being “eaten” needed to perform to a degree—but the one doing the “eating” had to act exceptionally well for the scene to truly work.
Honestly, if the “eating” actor did a good job, the “eaten” one would actually find it easier to perform.
And for that very reason, I had to do my best in this moment to devour my daughter with everything I had.
To lay the foundation for this child to grow into a global star—just like in my past life, or even beyond that!
And to seize the chance to see my favorite shining self once more through her eyes!
With that resolve, I decided to unleash the full power of my 20 years of acting experience from my previous life to completely consume the role.
I had already memorized the script a long time ago.
What remained was aligning the character with my own state of mind.
I had already binge-watched the drama The Queen’s Tears in preparation.
The protagonist of the show:
A woman named Yuhwa, who rose from being a servant to becoming queen.
With a feeling as natural as breathing,I pulled together every piece of information I had about her and formed a single image in my mind.
An image of a woman seated alone at the pinnacle, filled with regret, remorse, and longing.
From the moment I held that image in my heart.
“Let us go, Princess.”
I became Yuhwa, Queen of Joseon.
“!… Gulp… Y-Yes, Mother Queen.”
Sensing the sudden shift in atmosphere, ‘our princess’ swallowed dryly.
I gave her a calm smile, and together, we slowly began to walk forward.
*
“Hmm…”
“…This is worse than I expected.”
The audition continued under an awkward atmosphere.
The absence of a lead actor to guide the scene became more and more glaring as time passed.
The script used for this audition was a brief scene from the latter part of the drama The Queen’s Tears.
It depicted the protagonist, who had entered the palace with a low status and climbed her way up through a long series of political struggles to finally become queen,recalling her free-spirited past in response to a curious young princess’s question.
From the beginning, the child actor playing the princess was nothing more than a supporting role in this scene, existing solely to draw out the queen’s emotions.
Since the scene naturally revolved around the queen, any awkwardness from the actress playing her would throw the whole scene off-balance.
“Sigh… This is why I was against it from the start.”
“We still have to do our jobs. Keep watching—we need to pick the best of the bunch.”
Producer Seo Jitae’s comment was met with a bitter smile from PD Lee Dongcheol.
Watching awkward acting was painful in its own way,but if this was what it took to make the casting decision without complaints, he could live with it.
Unlike Seo Jitae, who could focus solely on producing and directing dramas, Lee Dongcheol, as a department head, couldn’t afford to ignore the politics behind the scenes.
And there was one more thing.
Apart from the disappointing performances unfolding before him,he was waiting for something.
He was waiting to see what that person would bring to the stage.
Harboring a faint hope.
And though the chances were slim.
If, by any chance, her performance met his standards.
“Number 17, Chaeseonhwa, please come forward.”
“Yes.”
“…!”
Following the instructions, a mother and daughter stepped forward.
The moment Dongcheol saw them, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of surprise.
The woman walked forward step by step without even holding a script.
And behind her, the girl quietly followed.
This studio had no special set installed.
And yet.
With each step and every gesture exuding an air of dignity,watching them made it feel as though, for a brief moment, this really was a courtyard in a Joseon Dynasty palace.
“It hasn’t even started yet, and it’s already like this…”
From her appearance alone, she radiated an extraordinary aura.
There are people who naturally command attention.
And when someone like that begins to act, they often alter the atmosphere around them.
Even so, the fact that she had done this with only a few movements, before speaking a single line—Dongcheol found it incredibly impressive.
“Every motion is stable. She’s not nervous at all—just like a veteran with twenty years of acting experience. Where did someone like this suddenly come from…?”
And then.
“Um… Ahem… Then… please begin.”
Producer Seo, equally surprised, gave the cue.
Rather than replying, the woman simply gave a slight bow.
The careful gesture, made to keep her emotional line from breaking,carried the grace and composure of a seasoned actress.
And then—“What is the matter, Princess?”
Without shifting her gaze, she spoke the short line while staring straight ahead.
This gesture wasn’t in the script.
Yet, everyone present felt the moment to be entirely natural.
At the same time, the subtle noise within the studio died down into silence.
With that single line, the entire mood had been seized completely.
Standing before them now—was none other than Her Majesty, the Queen.
“Mother Queen, this girl has something she is curious about.”
“What is it?”
Her voice was strict, and yet it carried a quiet warmth.
The princess took the queen’s hand and asked, her expression brimming with curiosity:
“Mother Queen, what is the world outside the palace like?”
“…Why would you ask such a thing?”
An unexpected question.
At those words, a slight shadow passed over the queen’s face.
For someone who was once of low birth, the world outside the palace was not a fond memory.
It was a remnant of a past she wished to erase.
And yet—“I heard the court ladies say that living inside the palace is like being in prison. That unlike the outside, it feels suffocating.”
“!”
Those words pierced the Queen’s heart.
Like a dagger—So deep that it made her chest ache.
“Is that really true? Then… am I living in a prison right now?”
“…A prison.”
It wasn’t a statement meant to offend.
Rather, it was a question filled with genuine curiosity.
At her daughter’s innocent inquiry, a faint smile appeared on the Queen’s lips.
Yes.
It was a prison.
This place she had reached after shedding so much blood.
This highest position attainable by a woman called Queen…Was nothing more than a gloriously gilded cage.
Once, she had been a bird flying freely through the skies.
Now, she was a bird trapped inside a golden cage.
That was who she was now.
And this was the pitiful reward she received for those bloodstained hands.
“Mother…?”
“….”
The Queen’s unexpected reaction left the Princess confused and uncertain.
Then—Looking at the small hand holding hers, The Queen smiled.
A tear rolled from the corner of her eye.
Feeling a deep yearning for the past—For the time when, though lowborn, she still had wings called freedom.
And just like that—Without a word, She pulled the Princess into her arms.
“Cut!”
“!”
“Gasp!”
The voice of PD Seo pierced the silence like a needle.
Only then did everyone in the studio snap back to reality.
The junior writer, the filming crew, the assistant staff.
Even the girls who had come to audition for the role of the Princess and their mothers.
All of their gazes were focused on the woman who had just been the Queen, Her breath still slightly ragged from the performance,And on the girl named Chae Sunhwa, gently wiping her tears.
‘What… what was that…?’
‘Wait, is she an actress?’
‘No way. I’ve seen tons of dramas, but I’ve never seen her before…’
The lingering emotion still hadn’t dissipated.
At the same time, a heavy sense of defeat weighed on everyone present.
‘Sure, the mother was amazing… but that kid—she was incredible too.’
‘Not a single line flubbed, and it all felt so natural. Like a real scene from a drama.’
If it had just been the mother who excelled, maybe they could have accepted it.
But even the daughter had delivered a flawless performance without a hint of awkwardness in that intense atmosphere.
If it had been their own child in that spot.
Could they have done the same?
No, It was more likely they would have frozen, overwhelmed by the Queen’s overwhelming presence.
They didn’t want to admit it.
But having just tried acting themselves, they now understood how hard it really was.
So while they were still filled with frustration.
They couldn’t help but accept it in their hearts.
The winner of today’s audition was that girl.
The girl named Chae Sunhwa.
Meanwhile—One more person had been silently watching the entire scene.
PD Lee Dongcheol clenched his fist without even realizing it.
Not at the girl who was gently wiping away tears with a handkerchief.
But at the mother, still lost in the lingering emotion.
“I have to get her—no matter what!”
This feels forced
benanr